Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield (2019, Switch)

[EEVILMURRAY]

Pokemon Ranger already has a level up system.

Oh, excuse me, had a level up system.

That's why I gave the level up shit bit to Snap.

 

I love the Ranger games.

[DriftKaiser]

It's gonna be a while until Serebi get information about it but I'll love a bigger region and maybe a Post-Game small region with a mixed population of Generation 1-7 pokemon. It probably will have more side-quests, maybe a return of RotomDex. Gonna be interesting to see what they will do with the wild pokemon.

[Mandalore]

It's a huge leap in hardware power, curious if Gamefreak will continue to make very conservative additions like usual.

[Julius]

It's a huge leap in hardware power, curious if Gamefreak will continue to make very conservative additions like usual.

 

As a long time fan of the franchise I might be biased, but I do think that if Pokémon aren't planning on making big additions/changes to the formula Pokémon has become somewhat known for - and I think they are anyway - then Nintendo will be pushing them to make them anyhow.

 

There's so much that could be done with the franchise, and if the core aspect of the franchise they've decided to focus on is the RPG element, I'm all for it; there are so many storytelling possibilities in a setting like this, and so much that could be done to make full use of the new power (and the heaps of money) at their disposal: seamless open world; seamless transitions from battle to overworld; orchestral score; 1:1 scaled Pokémon models present in the overworld; dialogue trees; voice acting; a return of companion Pokémon and the soaring mechanic introduced in ORAS; logical decisions such as having all Pokémon capable of learning the move Surf able to do so without learning the move; in-battle evolution; condensed day-night cycles (1 hour as in BOTW and XC2 as opposed to 24 hour), etc.

 

I have really high hopes for the future of the franchise on the Switch, and I can't wait until we (eventually) get some more details down the line.

[Julius]

Been doing some digging to clear up the solid information that we currently have available to us on this game. It's scarce for now, but I think it's worth bundling together.

September 2016

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara, revealed that Pokémon games will indeed be making their way to the Switch (at the time still labelled the more mysterious NX).

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The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a hand-held device. We will make games for the NX.

A month prior, UK-based publication MCV revealed that sources close to them had heard that new main entries in the Pokémon, Zelda and Mario franchises would be on their way within the first six months of the NX's release (which proved false for our yellow electric mouse and Italian plumber friends, though these games, as we know now, are on the way). What is worth noting, however, is that they also reported that the main entry Pokémon game would indeed be worked on by Game Freak.

November 2016

Eurogamer reported that a third version to Pokémon Sun and Moon would be released exclusively on the Switch in late 2017; titled Pokémon Stars, this game would return to the Alola region in a similar fashion to how previous entries, such as Crystal, Emerald and Platinum, had, with a somewhat updated storyline and other minor changes throughout. However, they did also report that roughly 20 new species of Pokémon would be introduced to the region in this third version, which would have been a first for the series.

Whilst we now know that Stars is more than likely never going to come - after the recently revealed pair of 3DS exclusive titles Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, which seem, at least at face value, to be third versions of Sun and Moon - it's entirely possible that Game Freak may have been testing porting over the engine and assets of Sun and Moon, some of which we know are down-ressed from their HD model counterparts, as opposed to outright developing a third version for the Switch, though this latter point is speculation on my behalf.

February 2017

Early in the month, two job listings - for a 3D CG game designer and character modeller - for Game Freak were found on the Japanese version of the job listing site indeed, which seems to be pointing towards a new Pokémon game, with references to the creation of "deformed toonian persons, monsters and items" for a "globally popular RPG" throughout the two job summaries.

Other points that catch my attention are the requirement to be "capable of using MAYA [3D CG software]"; having experience with "Wii U and PS Vita class models" for the character modeller, who will also serve as a "motion modeller"; "texture, joint and weight" modelling is also required, as well as debugging; "the platform is a console"; and "since it is a franchise that has been known for a long time, the development environment is also very well prepared".

Sounds like Pokémon to me.

Also worth noting is that the initial contract is dated as lasting from the same day (i.e. as soon as possible) until May 2018, which could give us an idea as to the release period of the games.

Later in the month, talking to Japanese publication Toyokeizai, Tsunekazu Ishihara spoke about the Pokémon franchise coming to the Nintendo Switch, and there seems to be a hint of something different - at the very least - coming from the franchise's switch to the Switch.

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So far, Pokémon has been developed for complete handheld game machines. From the play at home, it is a good point of a mobile game to play and play Pokémon outside with friends and play battle outside. On the other hand, the Switch is "a home game machine that can be brought out" and its properties are slightly different from those of a portable machine. The screen is a bit bigger and the spec is also high.

Therefore, if you are going to send out Pokémon to the Switch, do not do it as you would normally do.

Speaking to his impressions of the Switch, Ishihara revealed that he's known about the development of the console for years and, interestingly, highlighted the HD Rumble feature in particular.

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I already knew about development for years ago and I have also seen about twists and turns, so I feel like I finally announced it myself. The important point is how to make use of haptic reproduction function (haptic) due to vibration adopted from this time.

A total of 20 buttons (direction buttons, ABXY buttons, LR buttons, etc.) are lined up in the controller of the switch in total, and for the first time for the game player, the hurdle may be high. On the other hand, haptics can express intuitively. For example, "When you hit an enemy it was hard, you could clap it stronger with a strong weapon." As you can do that, there is a possibility that the relationship between the game and the person may be somewhat higher than it is now.

June 2017

During Nintendo's E3 Spotlight, Ishihara revealed that a core Pokémon RPG was indeed in the works for the Switch.

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I have one more announcement [in reference to announcements made days before during a Pokémon Direct]. Game Freak has begun developing a core RPG Pokémon title on Nintendo Switch. It may not release for more than a year, but we hope you'll look forward to it all the same.

 

Edited July 3, 2017 by Julius Caesar
Formatting. A lot of formatting.

[Space]

Super excited for a Switch Pokémon game. I never took the plunge and got the 3DS so I am still playing Pokémon Go. While the location aspect is great it will be great to have a game to play at home.

Until it arrives, if anyone else has kids I recommend PokéPark Wii on Wii U virtual console - an enjoyable game they can easily wander around and play. You'll just need to read the speech bubbles if they can't read yet.

[Julius]

Listed in Nintendo's financial release as "2018 or later".

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Julius Caesar said:

Listed in Nintendo's financial release as "2018 or later".

Soooo... 2019 then?

[Serebii]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Soooo... 2019 then?

Pretty much

[DriftKaiser]

Just saw that video from Game Informer with GameFreak about the Pokemon on Switch. I'm very excited about how they will figure the balance between portable and docked mode for their upcoming games.

[Julius]

In an interview with Bloomberg (which also shared the hopes left for Pokémon GO and touched upon the future of the franchise as a whole) the CEO of The Pokémon Company International, Tzuneka Ishihara, had the following points to share on the Pokémon game making its way to Switch. 

Quote

• With the Switch, we see it as a chance to create Pokémon that goes deeper and with a higher level of expression. As a result, that makes it an extremely important platform.

• Right now we’re using 7 to 8 inch screens, but on a high-definition TV you can express a whole different world with graphics and sound.

• Until now, games were made as one for one person, but now you can go home and play with everyone -- so how do we tackle these themes, and how do we make sure it’s not complicated?

• I can’t say that we’ll release accessories, but I’d like to think of that possibility

• Unlike smartphones, the Switch is not a game device that assumes that there’s constant network connectivity. So from our perspective, it’s really not that different from DS or 3DS in terms of connectivity.

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Julius Caesar

[ArtMediocre]

So, are they considering local multiplayer? How would that be possible? Are they moving away from a single player story?

And regarding the comment about 1080p HD, YES! Finally they give us an indication that it will be more than a "handheld port"

[Ashley]

It would be nice if you could cross paths with those on your friends list in game and battle on the spot or challenge others together.

[Julius]

Pokéjungle have published some rumours about Pokémon Switch, and I want to say beforehand that I don’t buy into this at all, but I do think that it could catalyse some more discussion about the game regardless of whether or not any of these rumours are true. Take this all with a few lumps of salt.

They are reporting that this information was gathered from Chinese sources; in particular, it supposedly comes from some of the same people who shared knowledge of Rainbow Rocket in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The rumours state that:

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• The Chinese localization team has already finished translating the games’ script

• There will be no new Mega Evolutions introduced in the new games

• Z-Moves return and now use motion control to activate using the Joy-Cons

• Central plot revolves around the conflict between tradition and innovation

• Region inspiration has been rumored to be Spain or Italy

• Release to come late 2018 (~December) or early 2019

• the games feature a new, simplified battle system which has been compared to that of the Digimon World games. For those not familiar with them they use a real-time battle style in which moves are still selected via menu and include the option to attack or block moves from your opponent. It has also been compared to the battle system of Pokkén Tournament in which moves are either attacks, blocks or grabs and work in a rock-scissors-paper fashion.

This reminds me somewhat of those Plus and Minus rumours from a few years ago, which stated that Game Freak were working on a hybrid console game which planned to “completely overhaul the basic systems of battle, simplifying the process” and that the theme is “old tradition vs. new exploration” (i.e. tradition vs. innovation, as in the Pokéjungle rumour).

My personal thoughts are that it’s way too soon for the Chinese localisation to have already started, yet alone be completed. If the games were set in a region based on China, then sure, maybe I could believe that, but this seemed a bit off to me, because if that localisation was already completed, it would suggest to me that Game Freak are hoping to make a big impact in China with this game, and so why would the region not be inspired by China?

The thought of scrapping Mega Evolutions has been on the cards for a while now, since Gen VII didn’t introduce any new ones, but it will be a shame if that idea was just a flash in the pan. Then again, they did introduce something of a tremendous power creep (as do Z-moves, but to a lesser extent), so it’s not too surprising that it could be binned so soon after its introduction. Personally, I’d love regional variants to be explored further, and for Mega Evolution and Z-moves to become a thing of the past, but maybe that’s just me. 

The theme of the central plot sounds interesting, but I wonder how it could be applied to an Italian or Spanish inspired region. Perhaps an evil team consisting of modern day Romans or Conquistadors holding onto ideas buried in the past? Or perhaps just a mostly rural region become urbanised, and some rebelling against that?

The reported release date doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, and it falls into that 2018/2019 window, but considering that a fair share of the main games have been released in November as of late, I’d personally be surprised if it came out in March. 

On a completely different note, after playing a little Chrono Trigger around a friend’s house lately, I think that something this series could really benefit from is a seamless transition from overworld interaction with a wild Pokémon to the battle screen. This game, like any other in a long standing franchise, would greatly benefit from relatively smaller quality of life improvements, but that’s just my take.

[Serebii]

The same source said I'd be "BTFO" when I said there would be no new Alola Forms in USUM

[Dcubed]

This all sounds like hilarious BS.  The fourth point in particular "tradition vs innovation" is basically the online discourse that's happening on forums right now, so I'm inclined that someone's having a bit of a laugh right now and just trying to rile some people up.

 

Also how could the Chinese localisation team have finished translating the script already? The original Japanese script itself wouldn't even be finalised until about 3-4 months before launch!

 

Finally, this game isn't coming out in 2018, so kill your hopes and dreams of that right now.  November 2019 at the very earliest.

 

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On a completely different note, after playing a little Chrono Trigger around a friend’s house lately, I think that something this series could really benefit from is a seamless transition from overworld interaction with a wild Pokémon to the battle screen. This game, like any other in a long standing franchise, would greatly benefit from relatively smaller quality of life improvements, but that’s just my take.

@Julius Caesar, I agree.  Seamless loading is what I want to see the most in this Switch game.  Not just with battles, but with everything.  I don't mind having transition effects, but I want it to load instantly.  No loading screens in-between areas like in the 3DS games (go back to the original GB/C/A games in that regard) and especially no black screens in-between menu screens; those couple of seconds it takes to load menus in the 3DS games just drives me mad whenever I play them! I absolutely hate how long it takes to load anything in the 3DS games, and all of the pauses/small animations they do to hide all of that incessent loading in the Gen 6/7 games needs to go.  Switch is more than capable of handling a seamless Pokemon experience.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

Quote

the games feature a new, simplified battle system which has been compared to that of the Digimon World games. For those not familiar with them they use a real-time battle style in which moves are still selected via menu and include the option to attack or block moves from your opponent. It has also been compared to the battle system of Pokkén Tournament in which moves are either attacks, blocks or grabs and work in a rock-scissors-paper fashion.

I needed that laugh. Sure, let's take that 20+ years of developing a massive, deep, battle system with a humongous amount of choice in strategies and go with something new! If that's not a massive red flag, I don't know what is.

There'll be tweaks, there might even be a new mechanic like Megas and Z-Moves, but the basics will still be there.

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moves are either attacks, blocks or grabs and work in a rock-scissors-paper fashion

Monster Hunter Stories called, it wants it's idea back.

[Ronnie]

10 hours ago, Julius Caesar said:

There will be no new Mega Evolutions introduced in the new games

This made me laugh. The most anticlimactic first bullet point about content and that's what they come up with 

[Julius]

It’s a purported leak and absolutely nothing more at this point, but there is an image floating around claiming to be of the game’s three starter Pokémon, apparently originating in a now deleted thread. 

In light of the leaks nearly two years ago regarding the final evolutions of the Alolan starter Pokémon in the lead-up to the release of Sun and Moon, I’m going to hide this behind a spoiler tag, on the slim chance that there is actually some truth to these supposedly leaked images. 

Spoiler

 

@Serebii has noted that there are some (pretty big?) problems with the grammar of the kanji presented in these images, and my gut instinct is that these designs feel a bit...off?

We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess, but take this all with some very salty chips. Very salty. 

EDIT: the artist of these pieces has come out and revealed them to not be the real deal.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Ashley]

Also who puts "confidential" on something and then literally frames it?

[Jonnas]

I would call this fake on the Water starter alone. It looks like a late-game filler Pokémon, not one of the cute/cool starters.

(Also, how bad are these Kanji mistakes? Wouldn't it be possible for the artist to just have crappy/rushed writing? Genuine curiosity here.)

[Julius]

The artist of these images has come out and revealed that they are fake/fan creations (I’ve edited the above post to reflect this).

[Ike]

They looked massively fake, the grass one looks too much like Chespin. The water one just looked plain terrible and out of place.

Shame we missed the chance to make a YouTube video and get all that monetisation moneys.

[MindFreak]

This is how it should look like! (New ad for Pokémon Go)

 

[Julius]

Some guy/gal called Pixelpar on Twitter (who has a fairly good track record, revealing the Direct Mini date and Wild Guns Reloaded well ahead of schedule) has some supposed tidbits about the game. They all actually seem fairly realistic (and a lot like a Pokémon game, surprisingly). As an aside, they've also suggested that Creatures Inc. are currently working on multiple games, with one being for smartphones. The game will supposedly:

• Feature fully 3D with hi-res assets.
• Have a cel-shaded art style (no surprises here).
• Make use of the Switch's touch screen.
• Feature an animated/moveable UI.
• Make use of a peer-to-peer online system.

They've also suggested that the Ultra Beasts introduced in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were originally intended for Pokémon Switch.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Julius Caesar